Insightz

Planning an outdoor wedding? Here are your portable toilet options

Outdoor weddings are a great way to experience natural spaces as you celebrate your union. Planning an outdoor wedding sometimes takes a little more effort than a traditional indoor event, especially when it comes to scheduling logistics like portable toilets. Even if the outdoor venue has some toilet facilities, they may not be sufficient for all your guests. Thinking about a remote location like a beach or campground? As wedding destinations become increasingly remote, toilet facilities may not be available at all. If you’re planning an outdoor wedding, here’s what you need to know about your outdoor portable toilet options.

Porta potties for outdoor weddings

When shopping for portable toilet rentals, you have two basic size options. Standard portable toilets stand around 91 inches high and are 44 inches wide and 48 inches deep from the outside. Inside, standard units have a depth of 21 inches and a width of 42 inches. (The toilet tank takes up part of the porta potty space.) This can be pretty cramped, particularity for wedding guests and brides in flowing gowns.

Toilets that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, are deeper and wider. They have a width and depth of 77 inches each. The additional space provides added floor space, making ADA compliant toilets large enough for someone in a wheelchair to maneuver.

How many portable toilets for a crowd?

When choosing the toilets for your wedding, you need to ensure you have both the right type of toilets and the right number. Most wedding planners recommend one toilet per 25 guests, especially if there’s an open bar. (For obvious reasons!) For a wedding anticipating 150 guests, plan for three to four stalls for women and three stalls for men. However, adding more toilets will improve the comfort of your guests.

Lucky for you, we developed a portable toilet calculator to help you determine how many porta potties you need on site.

In addition, consider adding at least one ADA-compliant toilet. The additional floor space will be helpful to guests with young children, older family members and other guests who may have mobility needs, and even the bride yourself with your gown and its added layers. The larger restroom space will create a better overall experience for your guests and your bridal party.

If your location has access to water and electricity, you may be able to rent a restroom trailer with sinks and stalls. At ZTERS, we work with brides and wedding planners to find the right portable toilets for your location and the time of year when you’ll be getting married.

How far in advance should you rent?

In warmer months of the year, portable toilet rental is in high demand. Many summer brides are surprised to learn that the company they chose for portable toilet rental has run out of available toilets, especially the high-demand ADA-complaint models. If your wedding falls on a week when your community has several outdoor events or large festivals, you will have even more trouble finding available toilets.

Plan to book your toilets two to three months in advance. If you have your date and location reserved earlier than that, go ahead and start calling to make those toilet reservations. Fall brides should also be aware October is usually the busiest month for renting portable toilets. With all those hay rides, pumpkin patches, and outdoor haunted houses, toilet rentals can be hard to come by.

Portable toilet rental may not be the most glamorous part of your outdoor wedding, but it is one of the most important factors. It’s also the easiest to forget. Make portable toilets a main part of your wedding planning to ensure the entire day goes off without a hitch. We schedule toilet rentals nationwide, 365 days a year. Give us a call to help find the right toilets for your wedding.